


There's nothing left but love

by kriidsedovah



Category: Naruto
Genre: Alternate Universe, Background Relationships, Enemies to Friends to Lovers, Eventual Smut, M/M, Multi, Mutual Pining, Pining, Rating May Change, Slow Burn
Language: English
Status: In-Progress
Published: 2016-08-26
Updated: 2016-08-26
Packaged: 2018-08-11 02:16:32
Rating: Teen And Up Audiences
Warnings: No Archive Warnings Apply
Chapters: 1
Words: 2,209
Publisher: archiveofourown.org
Story URL: https://archiveofourown.org/works/7871941
Author URL: https://archiveofourown.org/users/kriidsedovah/pseuds/kriidsedovah
Summary: <blockquote class="userstuff">
              <p>"If he ever saw Neji Hyuuga again, the cocky bastard would regret it."<br/>After the disastrous Konoha Chuunin Exams, Kiba holds onto his grudge toward Neji for nearly killing his teammate Hinata. When Team 8 and Team Guy are forced to work together, however, and with a bit of prodding, Kiba starts to see the error of his ways and can look at Neji in an- almost- positive light. But there's no way it would be more than that, right? They're rivals, that's all. <em>Just</em> rivals.<br/>Slowest burn of your life, a story of two idiots who won't admit they love each other until it's almost too late to do so.<br/>EDIT 7/25/18: On Permanent Hiatus.</p>
            </blockquote>





	There's nothing left but love

**Author's Note:**

> does a little dance  
> its fun to be one of two people actively creating content in a rarepair ship. so this is chapter one of what might end up being quite a lot, it's hard to say. hope you like nejikiba and vicious amounts of pining, we've got that in spades.  
> dedicated to my wonderful friend King (pagkahari on twitter), who not only dragged me into this hell but kept me well-supplied with beautiful art and encouragement, for which i am eternally grateful. i hope everybody enjoys this!!  
> EDIT 7/25/18: On Permanent Hiatus until further notice.

_"I' can't hate you anymore...I've given up. There's nothing left but love."'_

> _Beebo Brinker, I Am A Woman_

* * *

 

Who the _fuck_ did this guy think he was, anyway?

Kiba clenched his fists ‘til his knuckles were white, looking across to the hospital bed next to his. Hinata laid there, skin pale as the sheets and her cheeks sallow. She’d been unconscious for almost twenty four hours, during which Kiba and Shino had not left her side. Shino came to the hospital room as soon as he was able and waited for Kiba to wake up first in order to deliver the news Kiba had known, in his heart, was always going to happen. He’d just wished Hinata were a little less goddamn _stubborn,_ hell.

He knew Kurenai looked at Hinata, for all their sensei’s well-meaning intent, and saw a weak, spineless girl. But Kiba had seen the hours of training, the bloody palms he or Shino had bandaged more than once and the way Hinata had taken to hiding her hands in her sleeves, not out of nervousness but as a way to conceal the grueling injuries she inflicted on herself during her training. He _knew_ her, and for all Hinata’s fragile sense of self-confidence and anxious temperament, she had a core of steel in her that kept her throwing herself at the same challenges again and again, a dogged sense of needing to prove herself that left Kiba and Shino terrified of the day when she took on a challenge that would break her for good.

If Neji Hyuuga had been that challenge, Kiba was going to tear his throat out.

Shino put a quelling hand on his arm as the monitors he was hooked up to in his bed began to sound alarms. He’d taken off his glasses, something he did only in the presence of his teammates, and his dark eyes were hard in his otherwise expressionless face.

Kiba took a deep breath in and sighed out, the way Kurenai had taught him to when he was frustrated. It helped, at least enough so that he could look over at Hinata’s unconscious body without blood-boiling rage clouding his thoughts.

“This is stupid, why are they even keeping me here? I’m fine.” Kiba tugged at the IV in his arm with irritation. “My nose is fine and everything, no thanks to that orange asshole.”

“You lost a lot of fluids through exertion, and the stress level of the exams is very high. They’re keeping you for observation,” Shino answered for the third time. “Besides, in this bed or not, you’d still be here.”

Kiba bit his lip. “I know. I just-“ he cut his hand through the air. “I feel so _useless!_ There’s _nothing_ we can do here? We just have to, what, accept that our teammate nearly _died_ because some bitter douchebag couldn’t control himself?”

“Hinata made the decision to keep getting up,” Shino said, quiet but firm. “She knew what the risks were.”

Kiba snarled. “I know that, but I can’t just do nothing!”

“You can and you will. When Hinata wakes up we can talk to her about it.”

Kiba gave another unhappy grumble, but gave in with reluctance in the face of Shino’s infallible logic. Damn him for being right all the time, and for being so levelheaded even in a situation like this. Akamaru whined and snuffled at his chest. Kiba dropped an absent hand on top of his head, gaze drifting over to Hinata’s hospital bed against his will.

If he ever saw Neji Hyuuga again, the cocky bastard would regret it.

 

“We’re _what?_ ”

“Training. You know, where multiple people try to hit each other in order to get better at hitting each other.”

“Shut up, Shino, I know what training is-“

“Enough, boys,” Kurenai snapped in her Sensei Voice. They both quieted, but Kiba kept his arms crossed.

“Why do we have to train with _them,_ Sensei?” he demanded. Hinata had remained silent thus far, which Kiba did not like. He had hoped she would express _some_ kind of opinion about this, at least. Kurenai sighed.

“After the way the Chuunin Exams ended, we can’t take any chances-“

“Oh yeah, don’t take chances, like _teaming up with the same guy who almost killed Hinata?_ ”

“Nobody is the same, after what happened-“

“How can you be sure? What if he’s put on a front and the second we meet up he tries to finish what he started?”

“Kiba.” Kiba gave a start when he realized it was Hinata who had spoken. She gave him a tiny smile, but a genuine one. “I’m okay, really,” she assured him. “We’re past that now, it will be fine.“

Kiba wanted to argue that he didn’t see how Neji taking out his anger and spite on Naruto only to have his ass beat counted as being “past that now,” but Hinata shifted her stance to set her feet in the way that Kiba knew she meant business. Still, he vacillated another second before giving in and throwing his hands up.

“Fine, but one wrong move and I rip his guts out,” Kiba threatened, just to make sure everyone knew how unhappy he was with this. Hinata nodded at him in relief, and Shino raised an eyebrow but refrained from comment.

“All right, now that that’s settled, let’s head over to the training ground for morning warmups!” Kurenai clapped her hands together. Her team groaned in unison, and Kurenai had to hide a smile as she herded them off to the training ground.

Team Guy was already there when they arrived, and looked as though they had been at the training for a while. Lee, still in the hospital, wasn’t present, but TenTen and Neji were in the middle of sparring. It appeared to be without jutsu, though, as neither had thrown a more serious attack other than kicks and punches. Kiba hung back a little as the rest of the group called greetings and started warming up. He kept his eyes on Neji, who had given no acknowledgement of their presence, all of his focus on blocking Tenten’s attacks.

Kiba had been in the stands during Neji and Naruto’s fight, rooting for Naruto to beat the shit out of the smug Hyuuga bastard. He had sensitive hearing as an Inuzuka on top of his training as a ninja, and all he needed was one little sense-enhancing jutsu (what? He was curious, they spent a lot of time standing and talking at each other) to pick up on their bits of conversation during the fight. So what if Neji was a lower-born clan member in a house that despised him? Naruto had no family at all, and _he_ didn’t try to kill any weaker members of their class when given the opportunity. There was just no excuse for being that big a dick, as far as Kiba was concerned. Actions like that were a conscious choice, so he was glad to hear the little blond idiot- whom he had grown a little warmer about in spite of himself, maybe because he was so kind to Hinata- telling Neji exactly what he himself wanted to say to the prick about his fucked-up sense of “fate.”

Neji got an in on Tenten and landed a solid blow to her side that knocked the wind out of her. While she was off-balance, he swept her feet out from under her and placed a hand at her throat, miming a killing blow. Tenten spat to the side and grumbled something, and Neji held out a hand to help pull her up. It was then that they both turned to greet Team 8, over Guy’s baritone shouts.

Neji’s eyes shifted until they landed on Hinata. Kiba tensed and stepped in front of her, ready on the defense if necessary. Neji’s eyes drifted over him, a hint of confusion in them, but all he said was, “Hello, Lady Hinata. Thank you again for your visit in the hospital.”

Kiba spluttered. Hinata stepped out from behind him and gave Neji a tiny smile. “I told you, you can call me Hinata,” she murmured. Neji inclined his head, and they walked off together, speaking without discomfort or animosity.

“Did you see that?!” Kiba hissed to Shino. Shino shrugged.

“Clearly they’ve talked.”

“Why are you so calm about this?! He tried to _kill her!”_

“And she lived, _and_ she has the strength of character to forgive the man who tried to kill her,” Shino responded. He shoved his hands in his pockets and looked out over the field, to where Hinata was covering her mouth to giggle at something Neji had said. “I think it’s going to be okay.”

“Boys! Get a move on or Guy will make you run laps!” Kurenai called. Kiba waved a hand and sent Shino one last offended glance before taking off at full speed across the field, Akamaru yipping and skipping next to him. He skidded to a halt and bumped fists with Tenten, who gave a nod to Shino.

“Hey, Dog Boy!” Kiba’s head whipped back to glare at Tenten’s grinning face. She hefted a large shuriken on her shoulder. “Let’s spar, I wanna see what you’re made of.”

Kiba sighed. “Fine, whatever.” He settled into a stance and Tenten came at him with a wild grin on her face, Shino stepping out of their way as they clashed. Kiba fought hard, determined to put this whole Neji thing out of his mind for the moment. It was that or stomp over to where the douchebag was showing Hinata some stupid new move and try to beat the hell out of him.

Hm. Well, they _were_ training…

Kiba and Akamaru put up a good fight, but in the end Tenten’s experience won out over them, and Kiba collapsed in a heap on the grass, laughing and throwing his hands up in surrender.

“You’re a nightmare. Did Lee teach you to be this unrelenting? Jeez.”

Tenten laughed at him, but her smile was edged with bitterness. “Well, train with that idiot for long enough and some things start rubbing off on you. Don’t tell him I said that though, he’ll never let me live it down.”

In the end, the combination of Tenten and Shino- who suspiciously kept asking for rematches even when he trounced Kiba in sparring- kept Kiba busy enough that when Kurenai called a halt for the day, Kiba was too exhausted to consider trying to fight Neji on their own time. He’d done his best to keep an eye on both Hinata and Neji while he’d been fighting with the other two, but he hadn’t seen much from that corner at all, never mind any sort of dangerous moves. Whatever Neji was teaching Hinata, it must be a pretty big deal, because nobody bothered them for the entirety of the training session, not even their senseis. Kiba wanted to ask Hinata what the hell was so important that she had to talk to _Neji_ to get it, but once their training was done all he wanted to do was go home.

“Man, Tenten is _intense._ I think my bruises have bruises,” Kiba groaned, leaning on Shino’s shoulder for support. Shino ducked him and resumed walking next to Hinata, who giggled.

“She is very…” she trailed off, unable to find an appropriate word.

“Can’t argue with that,” Kiba drawled, and ruffled her hair to make her laugh and push him away. “Tenten told me Lee rubs off on people. Actually, come to think of it, you kind of remind me of him, Hinata.”

Hinata shot him a Look, complete with narrow eyes and a judging twist to her lips. Kiba laughed and put his hands up. “Listen, listen, hear me out! It’s not the jumpsuit or the haircut, okay. It’s…” His smile softened. “You’re both so goddamn stubborn, you’ll just go and go until you succeed or die trying.”

Hinata blinked, a soft rose blush on her cheeks at the unexpected statement. “T-thank you…I think,” she said after a moment. Kiba grinned and slung an arm around her shoulders in a one-armed hug.

“It was a compliment! You’re much tougher than you let people think, ya know?”

Hinata smiled a little and looked at the ground, but Kiba could see the happiness in her eyes. He squeezed her a little tighter before letting go and parting ways with them at their customary intersection. Shino would walk Hinata the rest of the way since his clan’s compound was closer to Hinata’s. Kiba whistled an off-key tune under his breath on the way to his house. His thoughts, left alone, turned back to Neji Hyuuga almost of their own accord. His mouth tightened, thinking about the little asshole and his plans to beat the shit out of him under the guise of “training.” Akamaru whined in his coat, sensing his increasing ire, and Kiba made himself take a few deep breaths and pat his dog on the head in reassurance. He’d have his time, he reasoned, if everyone was gonna make such a big deal out of training together.

His mouth split into a fierce grin, and he spoke aloud to the night. “Should be fun.”

**Author's Note:**

> phew, so that's that for now. thanks for reading!!


End file.
